


our eyes are looking at the sky

by atlasky



Series: we're in this mellow mayhem together [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DC Extended Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, once again hal jordan can't catch a break, running away from emotions is the bat brand, technically this is a standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:40:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26548405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlasky/pseuds/atlasky
Summary: “Brother,” Cass murmurs, ruffling Damian’s hair contentedly. “Did you skip school?”“Only the last period.” Damian moves away from Cass’ hand a beat too late.“Oh great,” Hal mutters under his breath. “He skipped a class. I can only imagine the next League meeting. 'Someone' will be all - Lantern, we need to talk about your bad influence in making kids skip school.” He narrows his eyes and points a finger at all of them. “I will not forgive you if that goes on my official League records.”“Please,” Jason says. “I’ve seen your records. It’s not like it’s pristine to begin with.”(Or: Jason makes a trip out of town to run away from emotions. This time, Cass and Damian follow. Hal is done with everything, thank you very much.)
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Hal Jordan & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, background Carol Ferris/Hal Jordan
Series: we're in this mellow mayhem together [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930579
Comments: 27
Kudos: 400





	our eyes are looking at the sky

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you AM for the feedback! Also dear friends, there is no point to this fic, it's just something short and fun... with some emotions. I hope you enjoy it though!

“You know,” Hal says, opening his apartment door in his sweatpants. “This stopped being cute the second you turned older than twelve.”

“I really, really don’t care what you think,” Jason says, pushing past Hal to a living room that is more familiar to him than it should be. He sits on the couch and runs a fingertip on the window sill. It’s dusty. He looks up at Hal. “Gross.”

Hal scratches the back of his neck. “Cut me some slack, not everyone lives in a castle with a personal butler.”

That hits too close to the issue Jason came here to avoid. He glowers at Hal and swings his legs up to prop them on the coffee table. It creaks in protest because of the weight of his boots. “ _I_ don’t live in the Manor. I live in a clean and tidy apartment like a perfectly functional human being, something which you are not.”

“Funny,” Hal deadpans. He turns around and disappears into the kitchen. Jason hears him open and close the cupboards. “Before I knew Batman was Bruce Wayne, I thought you bats live in underground caves.”

Jason did live in a dark underground basement until three months ago, closer to a sewer, but he’s not going to admit _that_. Instead, he rummages the stack of pillows next to him in an attempt to find the TV remote. “Where the fuck did you put the remote?”

Hal sticks his head out of the kitchen door. “How would I know? I literally just got back from space. I have an errand to run, by the way, so I can’t stay and watch you mope over whatever it was that your father did.”

“My sister will be here in a bit,” Jason says. Color drains out of Hal’s face. Serves him right for bringing up the Manor. “I saw her following me a couple of hours ago.” 

Knowing Cass, she probably had been following him for a while before Jason noticed.

“No,” Hal groans. “Is that the reason why you’re here?”

Considering how allergic Bruce is to the idea of Hal being around Cass, Jason thinks it’s a good move on his part. He angles his face to the window and grins at the shadow perching on the fire escape. Cass lowers her sunglasses and quirks an eyebrow at him. “I’m always out to piss the old man off.”

Hal follows his line of sight and sighs. “Well, let her in. I can’t have my neighbour questioning why my unwanted guests don’t use the front door.” He goes back into the kitchen, swearing under his breath as Jason unlocks the window and Cass slides into the room.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Jason tells his sister. Cass inspects a suspicious stain on the carpet and steps over it. She plops down on the couch and offers him a fist. He bumps it with his. “Will you help me find the remote?”

“No. Your fault.”

 _It’s your fault we’re skipping the movie night and are stuck in Coast City_ , she means.

“Worth it,” he replies. Water runs in the kitchen sink and Cass grabs a random magazine from the coffee table.

Jason’s flipping the couch cushions when the doorbell rings. He freezes and looks at the front door. That can’t be Bruce. It’s way too quick and Bruce stopped picking him up at Hal’s ever since Jason came back from the dead.

“Will one of you get the door?” Hal calls. “Make yourself useful.”

Jason’s glued on the spot. Cass lays a hand on his knee and walks to the door. He lets out a breath when the door swings open, and it’s no one with a head-to-toe black clothing. Black kevlars. Black suits. Whatever.

It’s a kid with a Gotham Academy school uniform.

Damian scowls at them.

Hal peeks from the kitchen and sees Damian. “Fuck.”

-

Here are several things about Damian Freaking Wayne—

One, he’s annoying as hell. Two, he’s committed his life to pretending that he’s older than his actual age. Three, he’s besotted over the perfect older brother _Dick Grayson_ and admirable sister Cassandra Cain.

Four—

Everytime Damian mentions _the Lantern_ with curiosity in his voice that he fails to hide, Bruce twitches. Convulses. Grits his teeth and tries to change the subject.

It’s actually kind of funny.

Jason doesn’t envy Hal, not even a little bit.

-

“Lantern,” Damian greets Hal. His eyes flick from the tips of Hal’s hair to the polkadots on his socks. Disgust crosses his face before he pushes it back down to a polite expression Alfred has made him practice. ”Did you change your mind yet?”

“Nice to see you too,” Hal says. “My answer will be the same no matter how often you bring this up—I won’t bring you to space with my ring.”

“You will change your mind,” Damian says calmly, which is ten percent more worrying than if he protested instead. He waltzes pass Cass, pausing to look at the floor, his shoes, then seemingly decides against taking them off.

“Brother,” Cass murmurs, ruffling Damian’s hair contentedly. As one of the two people in the world who would get away with the action, the other obviously being Dick Grayson, Cass surely enjoys flaunting it whenever she has the chance. “Did you skip school?”

“Only the last period.” Damian moves away from Cass’ hand a beat too late.

“Oh great,” Hal mutters under his breath. “He skipped a class. I can only imagine the next League meeting. _Someone_ will be all - _Lantern_ , we need to talk about your bad influence in making kids skip school.” He narrows his eyes and points a finger at all of them. “I will _not_ forgive you if that goes on my official League records.”

“Please,” Jason says. Having successfully recovered the remote from underneath one of the cushions and next to a suspicious stale potato chip, he starts flipping the channels to see if anything interesting is on. “I’ve seen your records. It’s not like it’s pristine to begin with.”

“I keep forgetting what a know-it-all you are.”

Jason waves a hand. “Don’t you have a terribly unhealthy breakfast-slash-lunch-slash-dinner to prepare?”

Closing the front door, Cass says to Hal, “Let me help you.”

“I like you Cassandra,” Hal grimaces. “But the less I interact with you, the better. The last time you mentioned meeting me, your Father followed me to space because he thought I was up to something.”

Cass pulls that face—the one she knows no one can reject—all wide eyes and forlorn expression.

Hal gives up and gestures at Cass to follow him.

“One of these days,” Hal says as he turns back to the kitchen. “I will finally move to an apartment that none of you will be able to find.”

He can try.

Sometimes all the TV channels in the world can have absolutely boring programs playing at the same time. Sometimes Jason doesn’t mind this, because it means he can use his time to do something else. Now though, it’s just making it hard to ignore the way Damian is staring at him. Jason presses the remote button harder.

“Are you not done being a petulant child?” Damian asks as he decides to perch on the back of the couch. With his hair slicked back like that, he really looks like a mini-Bruce.

“You’re the child,” Jason retorts. Admittedly not his best comeback. “Stay out of things you don’t understand.”

“Perhaps if you had not taken off to Coast City simply because of a suggestion to hold your birthday party, you would still have the moral high ground, but alas.”

“Do you even have _friends_?”

Damian says, “Do _you_?”

Jason flips him off.

It’s not just a birthday party, that’s the thing.

It’s a party for Jason Todd-Wayne.

Bruce—back at the Manor, sitting behind his stupid desk, with eyes on a piece of paper he was pretending to read—asked him if this year would be the right time to hold a birthday party for him. _It would be a small party_ , Bruce said. _Thirty people and you would know most of them_. 

As if Jason doesn’t know what that means.

After countless therapy sessions—for him, Bruce, and the both of them—returning to life as Jason Todd was something he was prepared for. As someone who is used to lying, dealing with the media fallout was a breeze.

Gothamites get bored easily, so feeding them several social media accounts, which he used to overshare his opinions regarding all the seasons of the Great British Bake Off, made them lose interest in his lack of public appearances. (Thanks to Steph for the brilliant idea.)

Making a public appearance is something he has yet tackled, three years after his supposed legal return to life.

To be fair—since trying to consider each other’s perspective has been something Dinah heavily emphasizes—Bruce’s suggestion didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.

They’ve been bouncing the idea back and forth over the last few months, discussing ways Jason could start attending a Wayne corporate event or two. Last time around, they got to the idea of the employee annual bowling tournament, but Jason was in a bit of a sour mood due to a botched mission and had tried to pick a fight instead.

When Bruce called him to the study earlier—

It just seemed. Sudden? No.

He was surprised regardless.

He may have overreacted.

Admitting that out loud? Never.

So here he is, in Coast City, annoying the person who annoys his father the most.

Dinah will probably find it funny.

“All of you,” Hal announces as he enters the living room, a layered sandwich with tomatoes in his hand while Cass trails behind him, munching on a peanut butter and jelly one. “I need to be at my appointment in thirty minutes, so I need all of you to leave.”

“Cass,” Jason says.

Cass looks at Hal.

-

“A jewelry store?” Damian says incredulously. He has ditched his blazer and opted to look like an overdressed child with his white shirt and black tie. “Did you receive an intel about a robbery?”

“Nope,” Hal responds, slamming his car door shut. “It's a personal errand.”

It turns out, the personal errand involves buying Carol Ferris, the Star Sapphire, a bracelet. 

For anniversary purposes.

Cass stands on her tiptoes for a better look at the bracelets scattered in front of them.

"You… and romantic gestures," Jason repeats for the third time. "Huh."

"I swear, if you say that one more time—"

“It’s just, have you seen what’s underneath your couch? How could you be the same person?”

Damian tugs on Hal’s shirt and cues for him to bend down. He then tries to whisper, except this is Damian, and he always thinks he’s more subtle than he actually is. “Lantern, this place is expensive. Are you sure you can afford it? Father said you are having financial difficulties.”

Hal snaps. “He said what—”

“He said that you are not well off.”

“No one is well off if you compare them to your father.” Hal rolls his eyes. “Besides, I’m a test-pilot and I’m good at what I do. I get paid nicely.”

Damian says, with a level of concern that he rarely displays to another human being. “Is it enough?”

Hal covers his face with a palm.

Cass flicks Damian’s forehead. “Be polite.”

Damian rubs his forehead and glares at her. “Cain! What was that for?”

The lady with red hair and too much perfume comes back holding new bracelet choices. “Have you decided?” She inquires. She lays out the six new bracelets with different gemstones. Each of them consists of gold or silver chains, some thinner than others.

Cass, who has developed an interest in fashion and spends her time making Pinterest boards with Steph, coos over the bracelets. Personally Jason thinks they all look the same—unless Hal is planning to resell them in the black market (in which case, he should pick the third bracelet), Jason has no interest in them.

Hal scratches his chin as he inspects the bracelets. “I don’t know. I think she might prefer the silver one?”

Damian doesn’t bother to hide his sound of disapproval.

“What?” Hal demands. “Do you have something to say?”

“It is obvious that gold complements her complexion,” Damian says. “If you are having financial problems and need to choose the cheaper option, you should have admitted it to us.”

“Um,” the lady behind the counter says.

“Don’t listen to Damian,” Cass says kindly. She pinches the end of one silver bracelet that is decorated with amethyst. “Silver is also pretty and it’s the thought that… counts.”

Hal looks desperately at Jason. “Aren’t you going to stop this?”

Jason shrugs.

He could.

He just doesn’t want to.

“Maybe she will like other meaningful items as well,” Cass says. “Like flowers, or a car. Selina liked it when Bruce gave her a car.”

“Haven’t you paid any attention, Cain?” Damian scoffs. “Jordan cannot afford a new car.”

“Would you like to see some cheaper options?” The sales lady asks finally.

Jason can’t help it—he laughs until his stomach hurts.

Cass picks up one of the bracelets and inspects it under the store light. Damian reaches a hand out and tells her, “Let me see that one.”

Cass frowns. “No, I’m looking at it.”

“I want to see it,” Damian insists, trying to snatch the bracelet as Cass, who still has the superior height, moves it out of his reach. “Cain!”

Cass sticks her tongue out.

Hal says, tiredly, to the shopkeeper: “Sorry, I’m babysitting today.”

-

Somehow the shopkeeper does not kick them out of the store. Instead, Hal tells them to wait outside as he makes his purchase. Jason doesn't stop laughing, not until Hal leaves the store and Jason has to maintain a semblance of polite indifference, at least. Cass and Damian continue to jostle one another here and there - Cass is enjoying it, Jason knows, while Damian is getting increasingly annoyed. 

Eventually, they end up at an empty playground near Hal’s apartment.

Jason has been here before, once or twice over the years, mostly whenever Jim or Carol were around. They insisted that Hal could not simply entertain a kid with TV and some snacks. Jason was definitely too old for playgrounds back then, but he indulged Carol because of the Star Sapphire tales she would tell, and Jim for Hal’s embarrassing childhood stories.

Cass and Damian wander toward the furthest swing set, away from where Hal and Jason sit on a bench, just far enough outside the safe eavesdropping distance.

“They’re looking out for you,” Hal observes. He's been palming the bracelet case, turning the box in his hand again and again.

A year ago, Jason would have denied it.

He watches Damian start pushing Cass on a swing. Cass leans forward and backward to make the swing go higher. The breeze blows on her short hair. Damian rolls up his sleeves and says something that makes Cass laugh.

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on this time?”

"The usual."

"I see. It's the usual again."

"The usual is always going on."

“I’m the last person you could come to for advice about family matters,” Hal says. “But I don’t think you want advice, anyway.”

Jason tips his head back and watches the yellowing sky. The sun is setting soon.

“I don’t,” he admits.

Hal never fails to complain about Jason’s visits, yet the first time Jason had visited after the whole resurrection business, Hal opened the door without a word and ordered pizza from a place he knew Jason liked. They sat in silence for an entire evening, eating two boxes of pizza and watching reruns of cartoons.

“I’ve never been in a deadly feud with my own father before,” Hal adds, considering. “I was, however, estranged from the most important people to me.”

Jason glances at him.

It’s not a secret, what Hal went through. Even with the way they poke fun at him, they all knew that the guy went through some of the worst things the universe could throw at him, and they respect him for it. In Damian’s case, it’s probably outright curiosity and reluctant admiration.

Bravery never comes without a price though, and Hal paid the price.

It’s something Jason understands.

“All I will say is this,” Hal says. He grips the bracelet box tighter in his palm. “Sometimes we may need to work on relationships, possibly much harder than other people. It’s just how it is. When we do manage to make it work—,” he flips the lid of the box open and stares at the golden bracelet with green sapphire. He smiles. “For those small and finite moments, it will all be worth it.”

“That was—,” Jason says, as he feels the truth of Hal’s words beneath his ribs. “Awfully corny. Best of luck to Carol.”

Hal flashes him a confident smirk. “When she doesn’t want to kill me for crashing yet another plane, she does find me charming, you know.”

Jason gags. “Ugh. I didn’t need to hear that.”

“Speaking of which,” Hal says, gesturing to an approaching black BMW, too pretentious to be regularly seen in Coast City. “It’s time to hear each other out.”

“Stop trying to be wise,” Jason says, shaking his head with annoyance. “My heart can’t take it.”

"Sure," Hal replies. He stands up and pockets the box again. "Considering how I've spent the entire day in close proximity of not one, but three young bats, I better leave to save my neck."

The car parks by a tree. The engine turns off.

"Too bad. It would have been fun to watch."

"Hilarious."

Hal gives Jason one last pointed look before he leaves, walking back to the direction of his apartment.

The car door opens. Cass and Damian are doing a bad job in pretending they're engrossed in a game of tag. Then again, it's them. They might be actually invested. Damian has a competitive streak that Cass enjoys to mess with, and Damian, in return, refuses to lose.

Jason closes his eyes and listens to the approaching footsteps.

Bruce sits next to him.

No one says anything for a minute.

He does have that thought sometimes—

Of how it probably shouldn't be this hard.

But— even though this too, he will admit to no one—Hal was right.

"How did you know we're at this park?"

Olive branch it is.

"Damian…," Bruce starts. "He used to skip school a lot. Tim planted some trackers on his uniforms."

"Huh," Jason says. "I thought he would have discovered them already."

"He did," Bruce says. "But not the ones Alfred put."

Jason opens his eyes and tilts his face to look at Bruce. "You're something else."

Bruce is in a grey shirt that Duke would have referred to as his “tech start-up” look. He looks back at Jason, exasperation written on his face. “A year ago, he missed an entire week of school because he went to search for the remains of Krypton with Jonathan Kent. What would you have me do?”

“At least he didn’t go somewhere like Ethiopia.”

Bruce clenches his jaw.

“Sorry,” Jason adds. “Bad day.”

Bruce exhales a deep breath and holds his gaze. “Is it because of what I asked?”

The problem with the both of them is that action is their main language. They’ve been working on balancing it, but it gets hard, and most of the time Jason feels scraped raw with every word he says.

“I don’t think I’m ready for it… not yet. I thought I was, but I’m…,” he pauses and Bruce doesn’t interrupt, listening. Jason removes a lint from his trouser with restless fingers. “Not there yet.”

“That’s fine Jay,” Bruce says. “We don’t have to do it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push you.”

Jason shifts a little. This version of him is still learning this too—accepting apologies from this version of Bruce. “Okay.”

“We can table this discussion until—”

“No,” Jason interrupts. He taps his foot on the graveled ground. “I can talk about it. I just don’t want it to happen soon.”

“Alright,” Bruce agrees. “Must you come here whenever you don’t want me to follow?”

Here’s to speaking the truth. “I don’t… not want you to follow, sometimes.”

“I know,” Bruce replies softly. “I can’t always tell when though. You were more obvious as a kid. Tell me next time?”

Jason weighs the request in his mind, considers it. Then he nods. “Damian told Hal about his supposed financial difficulties, and who he heard it from.”

Bruce grimaces. “Not my proudest moment. To my defense, Damian got it into his head that all lanterns are equipped with personal space jets.”

“That is not the strong defense that you think it is.”

“Cassandra.” Bruce calls out. Cass lets go of a fuming Damian and waves cheerfully at them, as if she was not just keeping him in a choke-hold a second ago. Damian leaps and tackles her. Bruce sighs. “Well, there’s that.”

Jason snorts. He stands and puts his hands inside his pockets. “It’s quite a drive to Gotham.”

Bruce reaches out to hand Jason the car keys. “Do you want to drive? If you need some space I can take the train with Cass and Damian.”

“And miss out on the heart attack that you’re about to have when the two of them talk about Hal? Are you kidding me?” Jason pushes the keys back towards Bruce. “I’m having the front row on that one.”

“You know,” Bruce says. “You’re not as cute as you used to be.”

Jason feels a grin spreading on his face. He doesn’t stop it. He stretches his arms up as if he’s reaching for the sky and yells at his siblings, “Brats, let’s go home.”

-

**End.**

-

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! Your thoughts will make my day. Thank you for reading :)


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